Evaluating the Effectiveness of Designed Interventions on Improving Utilization of Antenatal Care (ANC) Contacts During Pregnancy

Last registered on October 30, 2022

Pre-Trial

General Information

Title

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0007088

Initial registration date

January 27, 2021

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published

January 27, 2021, 5:12 PM EST

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Last updated

October 30, 2022, 6:31 AM EDT

Last updated is the most recent time when changes to the trial's registration were published.

Locations

Country

India

Region

Uttar Pradesh

Primary Investigator

Name

Sneha Shashidhara

Affiliation

CSBC

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name

Deepika Ghosh

PI Affiliation

CSBC

Contact Investigator

PI Name

Tanya Agarwal

PI Affiliation

CSBC

Contact Investigator

PI Name

Sharon Barnhardt

PI Affiliation

CSBC

Contact Investigator

PI Name

Diksha Radhakrishnan

PI Affiliation

CSBC

Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status

Completed

Start date

2021-01-29

End date

2021-02-12

Keywords

Health

Additional Keywords

ANC, Message interventions, Rural Uttar Pradesh, India, Remote

JEL code(s)

Secondary IDs

Prior work

This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.

Abstract

Antenatal care (ANC) is critical for the mother and child’s health. WHO recommends 8 ANC contacts and Indian policy recommends at least 4 ANC contacts, with both pushing for the first contact to be within the first trimester. These requirements are not met in many districts in India due to a variety of reasons. Here, as a Phase I experiment, we plan to remotely test different types of framing of message interventions in order to improve attendance of 4 ANC contacts in two districts in Uttar Pradesh by measuring intentionality to avail ANC contacts and the value perception of ANC services.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Shashidhara, Sneha et al. 2022. "Evaluating the Effectiveness of Designed Interventions on Improving Utilization of Antenatal Care (ANC) Contacts During Pregnancy." AEA RCT Registry. October 30. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.7088-1.6

Sponsors & Partners

Interventions

Intervention(s)

Testing the different framing of the intervention messages: gain frame, loss frame, renaming frame, joyful testimonial frame, non-pecuniary frame, heuristics and mental-model frame, and control - in order to increase the intention of availing ANC services as well as the value perception of these services, among women of reproductive age (18-45).

Intervention (Hidden)

Intervention Start Date

2021-02-01

Intervention End Date

2021-02-12

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

Intention of availing ANC services and value perception of ANC services using both stated and reveal preference questions

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Intention through likelihood ratings and an economic game. Value perception through price estimation.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Knowledge, risk perception, perceived norm, self-efficacy, trust-efficacy, and past behavior

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Each construct is estimated by all the questions referring to that construct. Questions are of the likert-scale rating type, binary yes-no, numerical input, or choosing one of the the predetermined options.

Experimental Design

Our design is a framed field experiment. Women of reproductive age (18-45 yrs.) are eligible and randomly assigned to one of the 7 groups (6 treatment arms and one control). Recruitment is followed by one phone survey that includes both treatment deployment (playing an audio message specific to each arm) and a questionnaire to measure intentionality, value perception, knowledge, attitudes, past behavior, and standard demographics.

Experimental Design Details

Randomization Method

Participants who give consent are to be assigned to one of 7 groups using stratified randomization. Stratified random sampling process ensures that equal numbers of pregnant and nonpregnant women are assigned to the different treatment arms. Similarly, assignment to treatment arms is controlled for age groups (18-25, 26-35, 36-45), number of children (no children, children) and primary source of medical care during pregnancy in their households (ANC, private care, home remedies). Done in an office on a computer.

Randomization Unit

At the individual level

Was the treatment clustered?

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

7 groups.

Sample size: planned number of observations

700 women

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

100 women per group

Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)

With a sample of 100 per group, a 95% confidence interval, and power of 0.8, we can expect to detect a group difference with an effect size of 0.4 (Cohen’s d) or above.

Supporting Documents and Materials